PAUL Burgess and his friends used their initiative – and a little criminality – to enjoy films at Oxford cinemas.

He recalls: “We had a wooden cart and when we were short of money, we would go around the houses collecting old newspapers, rags and any old junk people wanted to get rid of.

“When the cart was full, we would trundle it from Cowley through Oxford to Warburton’s scrapyard in St Ebbe’s and would sometimes make between three and five shillings for the load.

“Getting into the pictures cost a shilling for the cheap seats, so sometimes we had enough money to go in and buy an ice cream at half time.

“Sometimes, we didn’t make enough, so we would buy one ticket, one of us would go in and crack open the emergency exit for us all to sneak in. Fortunately, we never got caught.”

Oxford Mail:

Paul Burgess as a schoolboy.

It is one of many anecdotes in A Mishmash of Life, a collection of Mr Burgess’s memories.

Living at Cowley and attending St Christopher’s Junior School, he recalls many interesting characters, including the Rev Georgie Moore, the parish priest.

“It was well known that if any male parishioner was caught being unlawful in any capacity, he would come knocking and sort out the offender with a bout of fisticuffs – totally out of order, but effective.”

Another was ‘Dog End Dick’, who was often seen furtively searching the pavements and gutters for discarded cigarette ends.

He recalls one amusing incident when he and his family joined a Salvation Army outing to Enstone involving sports activities and a picnic.

“When the food was about to served, the whole field erupted with toads and frogs jumping all over the place.

“The girls and the ladies tried to get their feet off the ground, some trying to stand on chairs, others running to the coaches that had brought us to the field. It was a comedy that would have made a good film.”

He also has memories of a rail trip to Kingham to play football with his teammates from Oxford & Worcester Boys’ Club on a pitch where cows had grazed.

With the game heading for a goalless draw, the Oxford boys were awarded a penalty which they were sure their reliable centre forward would convert.

“He started his run, but a cow pat was in front of the ball. Cow poo went everywhere and the football went skywards and flew over the bar. We finally succumbed to an all-out assault on our goal by the home team. We were defeated by a cow pat!”

Mr Burgess, who now lives in the United States, joined the Royal Navy after leaving school and later became a fireman with the Morris Motors’ brigade at Cowley, reaching the rank of Second Officer.

He received an award at Buckingham Palace for his work as an instructor in firemanship.

He is now working on a second book describing his years in the Royal Navy.

A Mishmash of Life is published by Diadem Books, of Alloa, Scotland.